Rumors that Nicolas Batum may be entering his final NBA season swirled in August following a series of tweets from his wife, Aurelie. She clarified in those tweets that her husband hasn’t formally decided to retire following the 2023/24 season and that his future beyond his current contract is still up in the air. This week at training camp, the Clippers forward confirmed that message, as Janis Carr of The Orange County Register writes.
“I think I’ve done a lot in the NBA,” Batum said. “I’m trying to focus on this season. We’ll see what happens after this season. Maybe I’m going to stay, maybe not. I don’t know yet.
“… (I’m) thinking about what I’ve got left. All I’m thinking right now is I’m just ready for this year. … I’m really excited for this year and what’s ahead for this franchise, that’s for sure.”
Batum averaged 21.9 minutes per night in 78 appearances for the Clippers last season, his most games played in a season since 2013/14. The veteran anticipates having a rotation role again this season and indicated a willingness to play as much as head coach Tyronn Lue wants to use him, even though he’ll turn 35 in December.
“A bunch of guys want to get like minutes, and they don’t get it. I’m playing, so I’m not complaining about it,” Batum said. “You can’t be tired and complain because you play too much when guys only want opportunities to play.”
Here are a few more notes from around the Pacific:
- No player was around LeBron James this offseason more than Rui Hachimura, according to LeBron, who has taken his Lakers teammate under his wing this offseason in the hopes of unlocking his full potential, writes Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times. James, the NBA’s oldest player, will sit out the team’s preseason opener on Saturday as the club manages his minutes, though he still plans to see plenty of action during the preseason, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
- Lakers guard Max Christie, who was expected to be given a chance to prove in training camp that he deserves a rotation spot, appears to be taking advantage of that opportunity, earning praise this week from coach Darvin Ham and his teammates, according to Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times. “Max Christie is a dog! … His game surprised me a lot,” big man Jaxson Hayes said of Christie. “I already knew he was a good player, but he can really go.”
- Warriors wing Klay Thompson said on Thursday that he’s up to the challenge of defending some power forwards this season and will do whatever’s asked of him (Twitter video link via Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area). Head coach Steve Kerr spoke about that plan earlier in the week.
- Stephen Curry said he played a lot of pickup ball with new Warriors teammate Chris Paul this summer and believes the fit on offense will be “seamless” (Twitter video link via Anthony Slater of The Athletic). The goal will be making sure the pairing works on defense as well.
Can’t wait to watch the Warriors be one of the worst defensive teams in the NBA. Playing washed, slow, cooked Klay at the 4 is hilarious. He’s going to be dominated nearly every game. He couldn’t guard 2s or 3s last year because he was too slow and now he thinks he can guard fours with how small and cooked his knees are? LMAO
Who do you want Klay Thompson to guard if you are the coach of the warriors? 1-5 where do you assign him on defense?
So sorry you will be so disappointed once the season begins. Payton and Wiggins playing all season will strengthen up the defense. Moving Klay to the 4 is so he defends slower offensive players. 2s and 3s have more speed.
Just for you I looked up last year’s defensive rankings and the Warriors were number 15. Right in the middle.
I believe they improved the roster this year so hopefully the defensive ranking improves also. Even with Klay Thompson on the roster.
link to teamrankings.com
Klay looked much better on defense at home. The difference is honestly insane. An opponents FG% swing of eight points. That’s roughly the difference between Giannis and Bones Hyland, for comparison’s sake, which is just bonkers.
The whole team was that way, but Klay was by far the most affected.
online obviously a troll. know why people hate the dubs so much? because of the dynasty. I can’t really blame nba fans who “can’t wait to see them fail”. they’ve been doing a LOT of winning the past decade. I have hugs for online if he needs it!
I mean. There are certainly other reasons, but that’s by far the biggest one, lol.
It is the biggest reason but I wouldn’t say it’s by far, I mean they do employ Draymond Green.
Meh. Green can absolutely be a d*ckhead, but people would not hate him near as much if the Warriors hadn’t had a dynasty, lol. Exposure + winning.
Also a lot of people also hate the Warriors for accelerating the 3pt revolution/small ball/positionless era, but I don’t think that’s anything to hate over, lol.
I took a screen shot of that comment
Batum acted retired when he played for the Hornets
Watching the futile attempts by most NBA teams last season to play perimeter defense in Silver’s brave new world, I would not be surprised to teams rethink it abit. One thought would be to move slow footed or just older players to spots with less perimeter defensive responsibilities.
It leaves some vulnerabilities, but, for most of the last decade, exploiting size (especially strength) on the offensive end has been limited mostly to the C spot, if its a focus at all. Maybe it makes a comeback if teams go (even) smaller, but there’s a good case to be made to address that when it becomes a problem. Right now, the biggest problem in going small has been rebounding, not defense. I think that will be what, at least initially, restrains the temptation to go smaller.
It’s so funny that a lot of the warriors haters have waited this long. For the core to get old to finally talk sh** lol.